


dance in the dark and say you love me

by abyssalSympathy



Category: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Introspection, Nonbinary Character, Other, POV First Person, Pining, i am so sorry yall there are no excuses, robot just has too many feelings, super crown, tec is trying so hard to be a better person than what they were made for, the x-nauts were fascists and you can't change my mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 05:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19456996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abyssalSympathy/pseuds/abyssalSympathy
Summary: a computer in the employ of a princess finds a certain crown. no one is looking.





	dance in the dark and say you love me

**Author's Note:**

> concept for this version of the super crown by [destinytomoon](https://destinytomoon.tumblr.com/post/178529063720/when-i-did-my-versions-of-vivian-and-birdetta) on tumblr
> 
> i really have no excuses, this is so self indulgent. i hope you enjoy it anyway

she keeps the crown in a far-off hidden place. i only stumble upon it by mistake, though i know full well what it is rumored to do. to wear it is to take on the form of your truest self, to give your body the shape of your soul.

it makes me wonder if i have a soul at all to shape me. i am an artificial being, crafted painstakingly by evil men, flawed men. my code, though spun out by my own interactions with the world around me, is built on a framework they made. my body, though i cobbled it together myself, is built from parts that were used for their purposes.

i am a ramshackle thing. a strange little wind up soldier that my princess has somehow seen fit to keep with her.

but the malfunctions in my code, the errors i call emotions, call for me to hold the crown. i reach out with piston-and-hinge fingers. (they are gloved so i need not be constantly reminded of my nature.) such a small thing to hold such strange power. i turn it over, inspecting it with my camera-lens eye. (i do not need to see myself to know how the aperture contracts and expands as i examine it, too unlike human irises.)

and i wonder, as a soulless creature in a land where even flowers and chained metal balls contain that spark of life, if wearing such a thing would even have an effect. you could sooner put the crown on a toaster and hope for it to _become._ the toaster does not need to know what it is. the toaster does not think - it carries out. i only execute my code. i am nothing better.

i am nothing better than what sir grodus made me to be. the computer to watch over and execute his terrible schemes for him, to help him subjugate a world so brimming with life and love. my imperfections strayed me from that.

and can i ever be truly glad for it? or do my flaws simply seem to be belief?

i want to weep, holding this impossible thing in my hands. the thought of being anything else than what i am constantly aware of being at every moment of the day, startup to shutdown, seems so distant from me.

i should not try. i should not bother. it will not work because i have no soul, nothing to want to be. but, irrationally as my traitorous code, i raise the crown above my oculus and place it to the cool metal of my head.

and the room goes white.

i return quickly from the soft reboot, heads-up display quickly confirming that i am still standing where i was. what a silly thing to do - work my code into such a frenzy that i blue-screen straight out of consciousness. shameful. if i am quick, princess peach will never know of my error. i reach up to remove the crown, which has not moved either, according to my pressure sensors.

and then my fingers brush against something strange. something soft. something textured. it does not move when i push at it, seemingly anchored on top of my head. i pull it down to meet my oculus-

and it is a strand of teal hair.

i blink, _hard._ my vision does not contract as it should. in fact, the world seems somewhat deeper than it was, lovingly rendered in three dimensions. something metallic obstructs my sight at the corners. and the hand held out in front of me- it is not gloved. nor is it a cobbled-together mess of pistons and hinges.

it's flesh, pale mint green in the dim light of the room. i do not know why i did not question the feeling of _texture_ when i felt it but this is the clear reason why. the veins in the hand pulse gently with light.

my clothing, when i look to it, has changed as well. it's no longer a grey bodysuit, the one thing i could find to sheathe my form when i created it on the moon base. the cape clasped by the symbol of sir grodus is gone as well. this new raiment reminds me of the formal dress those in my princess's court favor, colored in deep blue, mint green and white, accented in silver.

i scramble for my tablet. reflected in its glassy surface is a pale face with dark eyes hidden behind glasses. in its short hair rests the crown. and as i blink with it it doesn't take too long to realize that this is me. _authentically_ so.

blue rises in the cheeks of my face and i feel my eyes burn - i have _two_ eyes. they betray my selfish relief as tears spill down my face. the face is mine. it looks like it should be mine. it _feels_ like it should be mine. i had no idea before now that i could want to _be_ something this badly.

a body grodus had never touched. that was never made for his vision. i stole it from my princess with my own traitorous hands.

but i want it so. if only because it has two eyes to see her with. if only because it has warm hands to hold her with. if only because it has lips to kiss her with.

"tec? are you down here? i know you have the afternoon off but i was hoping to-"

my princess stops in her tracks in the open doorway. a terrible fear washes over me as realization dawns in her eyes at what i have done.

"i'm- i'm so sorry, milady!" i stammer in a voice that is unmodulated, so unlike the one that normally comes from my speakers. my tablet is quickly discarded on the table to free my hands, my pale and awful hands. "i will remove the crown, i should never have-"

"tec," she says softly, and i hush at my lady's voice. her eyes hold so many things - concern? confusion? wonder? she has always been a mystery, the most beautiful mystery of all. she walks to me. i am frozen solid in fear.

the princess takes my hands in her own, observing them carefully. i try so hard not to shake. neither of us are gloved. i am nearly as warm as she is, now.

her eyes meet mine. i can nearly look at her eye to eye. a deep and shameful thought of mine admits that perhaps now i would make a better dancing partner. "this is you?" she asks me, gently cupping my hands in hers.

i cannot lie to her. the princess knows how the crown works, nor would i want to lie anyway. i nod. my cheeks still glisten with tears.

she wraps her arms around me. she has done so a few times before, but i have never quite felt it like this. my princess is so warm, so kind. her hands on my back make it feel easier to take the breaths i have barely noticed were coming so quickly.

i bury my face in her shoulder, my fingers catching in the smooth fabric of her blouse. she is everything to me. i do not know how i could ever possibly tell her.

i stay there, in the embrace of my princess, for far longer than i should be allowed to. she does not object, and strokes my hair.

**Author's Note:**

> title lyrics from lark of my heart by eliza rickman
> 
> thank you so much for making it this far. please talk to me about paper mario in the comments


End file.
